The retrospective examines the systematic evolution of Bluemner's work and places it within the context of his life and of the aesthetic currents of European and American modernism. Curated by the Whitney's Barbara Haskell, the exhibition surveys the artist's entire oeuvre, from the pictorial, architectural renderings and neo-romantic scenes of his early years to the symbolic, colour-infused landscapes. His role as an important innovator in the modernist shift to abstraction, however, is not widely known. The Art of Oscar Bluemner will be the most comprehensive and revelatory examination of the artist's work to date. Stylistically, Bluemner's work combines the strength, power, and color symbolism of German expressionism with the honesty and simplicity of American small-town architecture. Owing to its intense coloration and simple, recognizable shapes, Bluemner's work is immediately accessible even to those who have had little exposure to modern art. Its powerful combination of landscape and architectural shapes and its subtle anthropomorphizing of natural forms gives Bluemner's work a mystery and magic that - like the 19th century symphonic music to which it is emotionally linked - triggers an immediate response in viewers.